Adjustable position counter assembly



March 7, 1967 A. R. BUCHHOLZ ADJUSTABLE POSITION COUNTER ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed July 16, 1962 INVENTOR ARNOLD R. BUCHHOLZ ATTORNEY March 7, 1967 A. R. BUCHHOLZ 3,307,564

' ADJUSTABLE POSITION COUNTER ASSEMBLY Original Filed July 16, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ARNOLD R. BUCHHOLZ ATTORNEY United States Patent This is a division of the joint application Serial No.

210,074 filed July 16, 1962, by Arnold R. Buchholz and Lawrence C. Anderson for Coin Value Totalizer, now Patent No. 3,214,096.

This invention relates to an adjustable position counter assembly, and particularly to an assembly of denomination and total count counters, having visual indicia, for a coin handling machine and which assembly may be swung through an are on the coin handling machine to permit the presentation of a direct line of sight to an operator of the machine.

It is an object of this invention to provide a novel mounting for coin value indicators on an associated coin handling machine which allows adjustment of the position of the indicators relative to the position of an operator.

It is another object of this invention to provide such a mounting which will hold the indicators in any selected position and in which the position of the indicators may be varied without requiring loosening of fasteners.

The foregoing and other objects of this invention will appear in the description to follow. In the description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and in which there is shown by way of illustration a specific form in which this invention may be practiced. This form will be described in detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice this invention but it is to be understood that other embodiments of the invention may be used and that structural changes in the embodiment described may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the true scope of the present invention. Consequently, the following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense and the scope of the present invention is best defined" by the appended claim.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front view in elevation of a coin sorter equipped with the adjustable position counter assembly of this invention; and

FIG. 2 is a side view in elevation of a bank of coin denomination counters and totalizer counter as viewed in the plane represented by the line 22 of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the invention is shown applied to a coin sorting machine of known construction and only so much of this machine as is necessary for an understanding of the adjustable position counter assembly hereinafter described has been shown. The coin sorter includes a hopper 10 having an annular bottom plate 11 provided with an outlet opening 12. A scalloped disc 13 is rotatably mounted over the bottom plate 11 upon a sorting drum or core which in turn is mounted upon a centrally disposed shaft 14 and rotates within a fixed enclosing shell, in a known manner. The hopper 10 is supported at an angle so that coins to be sorted may be carried upwardly by the scalloped disc 13 and allowed to drop through the outlet opening 12 into a series of coin sorting slots formed on the periphery of the sorting drum or core. Rotation-of the shaft 14 and, therefore, of the drum and scalloped disc 13 is accomplished by an electrical motor (not shown).

The coin sorting slots form a series of radially disposed channels whose Width decreases from top to bottom, so that a coin of a particular denomination will be arrested at a particular level in a sorting slot. As the drum is revolved, one coin at a time from the hopper 10 finds its way into one of the sorting slots, and is caught at a level indicative of its denomination. The coin is then carried around by the drum past circuit switches and then is deposited into separate removable receptacles 15 for each denomination.

The present invention deals with an assembly of counters that visually registers in dollars and cents the total amount of coins sorted and the number of coins of each denomination sorted. For the purpose of registering the total amount of coins sorted in dollars and cents there is provided a total count assembly 16 that is activated by the sorted coins. The total count assembly 16 includes an electromechanical counter of known construction for registering the total value in dollars and which includes a plurality of numbered drums 17 viewable through the opening in the housing of the total count assembly 16. The dollar counter includes a solenoid which advances a suitable numbered drum 17 one step for each electrical pulse signal transmitted thereto and may be set back to zero by turning a reset handle 18 which rotates a zero setting shaft upon which the handle 18 is mounted. Also associated in the total count assembly 16 are tens and digit coin value indicators preferably in the form of a' pair of numerical displaytubes 19 and 20 for the registering of the cent count. The numerical display tubes 19 and 20 are known in the art and include separate filaments having configurations conforming to each number from zero through nine. The ten filaments are arranged in superimposed relation within a gas filled, cold cathode tube, and each filament has a cathode terminal and the ten filaments have a common anode terminal. Thus, when a circuit is completed to the cathode terminal of a particular filament, the filament will light giving a visual indication of the value which has been counted herein.

Associated with the total count assembly 16 is a bank of denomination counters 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 which are also of the electromechanical type in which numbered drums are advanced one step for each energization of a solenoid included within each counter. That is, the numbered drums of each counter 21 through 25 are advanced sequentially one step for each electrical pulse fed thereto and the denomination counters record the number of coins of each denomination which are sorted. The counter 21 registers the number of half dollars sorted, the counter 22 the number of quarter dollars, the counter 23 the number of dimes, the counter 24 the number of five cent pieces and the counter 25 the number of cents. Reset of all of the counters 21 through 25 is accomplished by a zero reset handle 26 operative upon each of the denomination counters.

As is fully described in the copending application Serial No. 210,074, now Patent No. 3,214,096, the denomination counters 21 through 25 are actuated by the closure of switches by passing sorted coins and the total count assembly 16 is controlled by a totalizer circuit that is also actuated by the sorted coins. The denomina tion counters 21 through 25 are mounted on a common mounting plate 27 together with the total count assembly 16, and the mounting plate 27 is swingably connected to an upper edge of a totalizer assembly housing 28 by a hinge 29. A slotted arcuate bar 30 is pivotally mounted normal to the mounting plate 27, and a pin 31 extends from a side of the housing 28 through the slot in the bar 30 and mounts a spring tension washer 32 which biases against the bar 30. The housing 28 is cut away at an angle so that the mounting plate 27 and its attached counters 21 to 25 and assembly 16 may be swung through an angle and will be held in place at any desired angle by the force of the washer 32 acting upon the slotted bar 30. Thus, the bank of counters may be manually set at any desired angle without the need of loosening and tightening fasteners. This novel mounting permits a direct line of sight to the bank of counters regardless of the position of the operator, Whether sitting or standing relative to the coin sorter.

I claim:

In a coin sorter including a housing, the combination comprising: a mounting plate hingably connected at one end to an edge of said housing; a plurality of coin counters mounted on a front surface of said plate and each ineluding visual count indicia; a bar having an arcuate slot extending from a rear surface of said plate in a plane normal thereto; a headed s'haft projecting from said housing and extending through said arcuate slot; and a spring References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,259,436 3/1918 Parks 312313 X 2,574,513 11/1951 Troupa 235-110 2,828,073 3/1958 Fennerty 1338 X 3,002,601 10/1961 Reis 1338 X 3,090,390 5/1963 Jones 133-8 ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner. STANLEY H. TOLLBERG, Examiner. 

